5 Best Mascaras For Women Over 50

5 Best Mascaras For Women Over 50 That Make Sparse Lashes Finally Show Up Again

By Susan Harper i

Former make-up artist, Wine lover & Blogger

Updated 2 DAYS AGO | 4 min read

Title

If you're wondering where your lashes went, I asked the same question at 53.

Thinning lashes? Five years ago I was sitting right where you are.

I'm Susan. Thirty-five years as a TV makeup artist, retired at 55, now writing online for women like me. It started around 53. Slowly. Thinner, shorter, lighter. By 55, without mascara, I looked like an EGG.

Thirty-five years on other women's faces and NO CLUE what to do with my own. The mascara I'd worn for fifteen years was suddenly clumping on the four lashes I had left and sliding under my eyes by lunch. UGH.

Sound familiar? Spider legs by 3pm. Raccoon eyes by dinner. And three more lashes on the cotton pad every night. Then one morning you look in the mirror and you don't recognize the woman looking back.

It's not really about mascara. It's about wanting to catch your reflection and think THERE I AM. Instead of "Where did i go?"

Now I get three emails a week. "Susan. Which mascara should I actually buy?" That's why this list exists. Testing on myself. On a few brave friends.

Five mascaras made it through.

Bottom line: GraceLash Tubing Mascara is the one I went back to. My thin lashes actually show up. I've worn it every day for over a year, and my reflection finally looks like me again.

Last I checked they had a sale running. And you get 60 days to try it. Doesn't work? Send it back.

CHECK IF THE SECOND TUBE IS STILL $5

1. GraceLash Tubing Mascara

You've probably never heard of GraceLash. Neither had I.

No counter at Macy's. Not on Amazon. It's one small brand, started by one woman whose lashes thinned the same way ours did.

Normally that would be my cue to scroll past. I've been burned by pretty marketing before.

Then an old colleague from my TV days showed up wearing it. Her lashes looked like hers again. Not painted on. HERS. That's the only reason I tried it.

Different from Thrive and Prime? Those are tubing too.

I thought tubing was tubing. I was wrong.

Thrive served me well for years. But one swipe too many and I was in spider leg territory, plus black specks on my cheekbones by evening.

GraceLash goes on thinner but looks fuller. That sounds backwards, it isn't. The wax inside is carnauba, the hardest wax on earth, so a trace does the work of a heavy coat. It grabs even the finest lashes, the wispy ones Thrive always skipped, so there's simply more lash showing. My whole lash line looks fuller, because every single lash finally counts.

And they stay defined and separated all day. No clumping, no flaking, and my sensitive eyes have never once complained.

If you're a Thrive or a Prime girl, wear one on each eye for a day. By noon, one eye simply looks fuller. That's the whole argument.

Does it stay put?

Here's why it does. Most mascara melts in the oil your lids give off, and after menopause that oil runs thicker. GraceLash seals its wax inside the tube, so the oil never reaches it. Nothing to melt.

By 2pm, nothing under my eyes. Checked at 4. Same.

My daughter got married in Florida last June. June. Florida. It stayed put through the ceremony. Yes I cried. The photos came back and my lashes were finally there.

The removal is the real reason it won.

Other tubing mascaras still sit right on the bare lash, so they catch when you take them off. GraceLash coats each lash with castor oil first, so nothing grips the lash itself. Warm water on a soft cloth, hold it on your closed eyes, and the tubes slide off whole. Not a single lash on the cotton pad. At our age that's not a detail. Every lash you scrub off takes months to come back. If it comes back at all.

One quiet bonus.

The formula puts back the three things menopause quietly takes. The signal to grow. The protein a lash is built from. The moisture that keeps it from snapping. Not a serum forcing anything, just feeding them from the one seat that sits on your lashes all day. I didn't buy it for that. But six weeks in, my lashes felt like more to work with. A touch darker at the root.

"Could be placebo. I'm not going to pretend I ran a clinical trial on my own face. But I'll take it."

Almost a year in. Still my daily.

PROs:

Tubing formula that stays put all day (no raccoon eyes)

Carnauba, the hardest wax, so a trace gives volume without weight

Made for thin, sparse lashes, not the lashes you had at 25

Precision wand catches even thin lashes

Slides off with warm water. No scrubbing, no lashes on the cotton pad

Gentle on sensitive eyes and contact lenses

Feeds lashes the signal, protein and moisture menopause sends less of

CONs:

A bit more pricey (but maybe that's the reason why it's so good)

Only sold on the Grace & Muse website (not in stores, not on Amazon)

Only in black and brown (Thrive & Prime have more colors)

This is the one I use. And exactly why it earned the #1 spot on this list.

One thing worth knowing: GraceLash Tubing Mascara is made in small batches. When it sells out, it's gone for 3 to 4 weeks. In stock now? Timing is on your side.

BUY IT HERE

2. ILIA Limitless Mascara

ILIA came closer than I expected.

The clean beauty crowd loves this mascara, and after a month of wearing it, I understand why. The ingredient list is real. No parabens, no PEGs, vegan. Peptides, keratin, avocado oil. Actual conditioning, not label decoration. If you read ingredient lists, ILIA is not pulling anything over on you.

And the look is genuinely pretty. Natural, defined, no spider legs. On the days I wore it, my lashes looked like mine, just better. That is exactly what most of us want at this age.

For a while I thought this might be the one. Then 3pm kept happening.

ILIA is not a tubing mascara. It sits wet on the lash all day. My lids get oily now, the way they did not ten years ago. That is age for you. And a wet formula on an oily lid ends the same way every afternoon. Smudges under my eyes. Not raccoon territory, but there, and I was checking a mirror by lunch out of habit.

Removal is where it really lost me.

Cotton pad and cleanser, the old way. That tugging at already thin lashes is what quietly pulled mine out at the bathroom sink for years. Tubing solved that. ILIA asks you to go back.

Two small things, in fairness. The wand is hard plastic, not the gentlest. And it has a scent. Not unpleasant. But you notice it before your coffee.

So why is it still my #2?

Because everything else about it is right. The ingredients, the look, the way it treats sensitive eyes. If your lashes are still mostly there and your lids stay dry through the day, ILIA is a genuinely good mascara, and the best non tubing option I tested by a distance.

But for the lashes we actually have now, the thin ones, the ones we cannot afford to scrub at every night, tubing is not a preference. It is the whole point. GraceLash holds all day and slides off in warm water. ILIA cannot do either. That is the entire gap between #1 and #2.

PROS:

Clean, honest ingredient list (vegan, no parabens)

Genuinely pretty, natural look. No spider legs

Real conditioning ingredients, not marketing

CONS:

Not tubing. Smudges by mid-afternoon

Needs more effort to remove

Hard plastic wand. Not exactly gentle.

Has a smell. Not awful, but you notice.

$29 a tube. Pricey for something that isn't even tubing.

A very good mascara. Just not built for the problem we are solving. That is why it sits at #2, and not at #1.

Below you'll find the link to ILIA's official site. Also at Sephora and on Amazon.

BUY IT HERE

3. LAURA GELLER Longwear Mascara

I need to be upfront about this one.

I wanted Laura Geller to win.

She was on QVC before I had grey hair. While every other brand was chasing twenty year olds, she was talking to us. Grown women. Real faces. I have rooted for that brand for thirty years, and when I started this test, part of me hoped the list would end right here.

So I gave it the fairest shot of all five. Two full weeks, every day.

Day one impressed me.

The pigment is serious. Properly black, deep, the kind of black that makes pale wispy lashes actually show up in a photo. My lashes were visible again without a single flick of eyeliner. I texted a friend that I might have found it.

Day one also warned me.

The formula runs thick. My second coat clumped until I learned to wipe the wand first. And it dries slowly. Sneeze inside ten minutes and you start over. I learned that at minute six.

But the real lesson came at night. At the sink.

Longwear is the right name for this mascara. It wears long. Through the evening, past the makeup remover, past the hot washcloth, into the next morning as faint shadows under my eyes. And every round of scrubbing tugged at lashes I cannot afford to lose.

That tugging is how I lost half of them in the first place. It took tubing to end that. This took me right back.

Laura Geller gives you the strongest color on this list, and asks your lashes to pay for it at the sink.

At 40, that trade is fine. You have lashes to spare. At 60, you do not.

PROS:

Properly black pigment, lashes show up even when they have gone pale

Brand that mostly speaks to grown women

CONS

Smudges by 5pm (worse with watery eyes or allergies)

Not tubing (same old tugging removal)

No nourishing ingredients

Big brush hits hooded lids before it hits lashes

Small tube for the price Formula can run dry (mine was fine, but other women have flagged it)

Marketed for women like us. Priced for women like us. But the product itself? It's not the one.

If you still want to try it for yourself, the link is below.

BUY IT HERE

4. Thrive Liquid Lash™ Extensions Tubing Mascara

Thrive was my mascara for years. The first tubing formula I ever tried. It showed up on my lashes in the morning, stayed put through the day, and slid off with warm water at night.

If you had asked me at 53, this list would have ended right here. Thrive would have been my number one.

So why is it sitting at number four?
Because my lashes changed. And Thrive did not.

The formula goes on heavy.

On the fuller lashes I had back then, that weight was volume. On the thin lashes I have now, it is a burden. It drags them down. My curl collapsed by lunchtime, every single day, and I spent years thinking that was just my lashes giving up. It was not. It was the weight of the product.

The wand has the same problem.

It picks up a lot of formula, which was generous when I had lashes to spare. Now, one swipe too many and I am in spider leg territory. You can work around it. You just have to slow down and be careful, every morning.

The removal is still lovely, I will give it that. Warm water, tubes slide off, no lashes on the cotton pad. That part never let me down.

But here is the honest heart of it. Thrive is made for all ages. Which really means it is made for the lashes most women have, not the lashes we have now. A tubing formula only helps if your lashes can carry it. Mine no longer can.

PROs:

Reliable tubing formula that holds through the day (when the tube cooperates)

Easy warm-water removal

Established brand. Sold on Amazon and Thrive's website

A solid introduction if you're new to tubing mascaras

CONS:

Heavier formula. Curl collapses by lunchtime on thin lashes. Easy to overdo.

Spider-leg risk if you're not careful with the wand Some tubes flake more than others (Q-tip ready)

Volume hard to build. Length doesn't really follow

Ingredient claims I never really felt $26 a tube for what's basically a baseline tubing formula

Made for all ages, not specifically for the lashes we have now

A great #4. Reliable enough on its good days, well-known enough that someone in your family probably already swears by it. A fine pick if your lashes are still mostly there.

Below you'll find the link to the official Thrive website. You can also look for it on Amazon (not 100% sure if they sell it on other websites).

BUY IT HERE

5. PrimeLash Mascara by Prime Prometics

PrimeLash showed up in my Facebook ads. A LOT.

Their marketing is genuinely refreshing. Women aged 50 to 80 in the imagery. Talking to women like us, not at us. Most beauty brands don't bother. Prime does. I respect that.

It's tubing. More colors than Thrive.

Navy, plum, whatever you want. The brand donates a portion of sales to breast cancer research, which is real. Marketed for older women by people who actually seem to be paying attention.

But the product?
It's OK. But from my perspective, mostly marketing fluff.

Volume? Length? Never really happened.

The formula is sticky, like a tube that's been sitting too long. Second coat, I had clumps. The wand drags more than it deposits.

Here's what surprised me.

PrimeLash gave me less lash than ILIA. And ILIA isn't even tubing. That tells me the tubing here is low-quality.

The curl I started with in the morning? Gone by lunch.

It is safe for sensitive eyes. I'll give it that.

Then there's removal. Tubing is supposed to rinse off with warm water. I was still tugging at the end of the day.

PROS:

Nice effect (for the first hour or two, same as Thrive)

Tubing formula

More color options than others

Safe for sensitive eyes

Brand donates to breast cancer research

Cons:

Sticky formula. Clumps on the second coat

Less volume and length

Doesn't hold the curl

Tubing tech feels lower quality (lashes show up less than ILIA)

Growth claims I never noticed in two months of wear

Harder to remove than tubing should be

Same price as ILIA, less results than either tubing option above

The marketing is great. I wish the product matched it. PrimeLash gets points for at least talking to women like us. For me, that's not enough.

It's not the one.

If you still want to try it for yourself, the link is below.

BUY IT HERE

And The Winner Is…

Gracelash Tubing Mascara

Almost a year now. Still my daily. Not because it's perfect. Because every morning it does the one thing I stopped believing a mascara could do. It gives me my lashes back. And every night it lets them go without taking any with it.

The other four each got something right. One had the color. One had the ingredients. One had the marketing. But getting one thing right isn't the job. Showing up at 8am and still being there at dinner, that's the job. Only one of them did it.

Here's what I didn't expect, though. It was never really about the mascara. It's that moment you catch yourself in the hallway mirror and you don't stop and look twice. You just think, THERE I AM And you keep walking. That's what I bought. The mascara was just how it arrived.

When I ordered, the 2 for $39.95 deal was on, about $20 each. You get 60 days either way. Doesn't work on your lashes? Send it back.

So no, you're not silly for wanting your lashes back. You were never silly. You just needed the one that was made for the lashes you have now. She's been waiting in the mirror this whole time.

summary

#1 Gracelash Tubing Mascara

Buy it here

#2 ILIA Limitless Lash Mascara

Buy it here

#3 Laura Geller Longwear Mascara

Buy it here

#4 Thrive Liquid Lash Extensions Tubing Mascara

#5 PrimeLash Mascara by Prime Prometics

Buy it here

Join the discussion…

17COMMENTS

Linda Mitchell

2 days ago

Bought GraceLash three weeks ago after reading this. I'm 64. Used it every day since. My husband actually said my eyes look "brighter." He never notices ANYTHING lol. And the warm water removal. Not a single lash on the cotton pad. I nearly cried. Game changer.

Patricia Wagner

3 days ago

I have very hooded eyes. Every mascara I've tried turns me into a raccoon by lunch. Migrates right onto the lid. I've thrown out at least 7 mascaras in the past 3 years. Is GraceLash actually different for hooded eyes? Scared to throw another $40 away.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Patricia Wagner · 3 days ago

Hi Patricia. I have hooded eyes too. Two things help here. The wand is smaller than the big fluffy brushes most brands use, so it doesn't dump product on your lid before reaching the lash. And because tubing wraps each lash in a sleeve (instead of sitting wet on top), there's nothing to migrate onto your crease as the day wears on. The 60 day guarantee is what got me to try it. If it doesn't work for your eyes, you send it back. Nothing lost.

Barbara Sullivan

4 days ago

I was a Thrive girl for SIX years. You nailed everything. The wand picks up too much product. The curl collapsed by lunch. I kept thinking it was just me getting older. It wasn't. The formula just couldn't keep up.

Margaret Foster

5 days ago

I'm 71. Gave up mascara entirely two years ago. Every night I was losing more lashes scrubbing it off. The cotton pad full of lashes broke something in me. Reading this gave me a tiny bit of hope. If I try GraceLash, how do I take it off without doing more damage? I can't lose any more.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Margaret Foster · 5 days ago

Hi Margaret. This is exactly why I came back too. I thought I was done. Here's how it works. Warm water on a soft washcloth. Press it on your closed eyes for about 30 seconds. The little sleeves soften and slide off in one piece. You'll see them on the cloth as tiny black flecks. That's the tubes coming off, not your lashes. No scrubbing. No tugging. Your lashes stay where they belong. A year in and that part still feels like magic to me.

Sandra Klein

6 days ago

Honestly? I'm exhausted by every brand swearing it's THE one. I've heard it. Bought it. Thrown it away. What makes this any different from the last five that promised the same thing? Not trying to be rude. Just tired.

Carol Bennett

1 week ago

Most useful mascara article I've read in years. Thank you for not pretending to love everything. The "It's not the one" at the end of each review killed me lol. Bookmarked.

Sharon Whitfield

1 week ago

I was worried about microplastics in tubing mascara. Read somewhere they're microplastics. Have you looked into this Susan? Trying to be more careful what I put on my body at our age. Otherwise the GraceLash review made it sound exactly like what I've been searching for.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Sharon Whitfield · 1 week ago

Hi Sharon. Good question, this comes up a lot. Yes, tubing mascaras use polymers. That's how the formula wraps each lash in a sleeve. But polymer doesn't automatically mean microplastic. Polymers are just molecules that link together in chains. Honey contains polymers. Wool is made of polymers. Your own hair is a polymer. Microplastics are one specific synthetic type that breaks apart into tiny floating particles. The polymers in tubing mascara are not that. They come off as whole little sleeves in warm water. You can actually see them on the cloth. Not the same thing. I asked this same question before I tried it. Once I understood the difference, I stopped worrying.

Nancy Rasmussen

2 weeks ago

I've curled my straight lashes since I was 13. Tried two tubing mascaras over the years and both straightened my curl by lunch. Does GraceLash actually hold a curl? Because every tubing mascara I've ever tried hasn't.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Nancy Rasmussen · 2 weeks ago

Hi Nancy. This was my biggest fear too. Thrive flattened my curl by lunch for years. The difference with GraceLash is the formula sets faster, so there's less wet weight pulling the curl down before it dries. Curl your lashes first, then two coats. Holds all day. I tested it through my daughter's wedding in Florida last June. June. Florida. Ceremony. It still held. The first tubing mascara that didn't kill my curl.

Karen Donnelly

2 weeks ago

Susan, I've been reading you for three years. You're the only beauty person who doesn't treat us like we're 25. The other channels keep telling us to "glow." What does that even mean when your skin is what it is now? You actually get it.

Donna Pickering

3 weeks ago

$40 is a lot for me. I retired last year and I'm careful with money now. Is it really worth it over the drugstore options? I want to believe. But I've burned through enough $15 mascaras to be cautious about anything that costs nearly triple.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Donna Pickering · 3 weeks ago

Hi Donna. Totally hear you. Quick clarification first. With the buy-one-get-one offer running on the site, it's actually two tubes for $40, not one. So if you grab it during the promo you're paying about $20 per tube. Still more than drugstore, I won't pretend otherwise. But here's how I think about it. You said you've burned through enough $15 mascaras to be cautious. Most of us in this thread have done the same. Three tubes you threw away at $15 is $45. One that actually works for around the same money is just better math. And you have 60 days to try it. Doesn't work for you, send it back. The risk is on them, not you. That's what got me to try it in the end.

Cynthia Harlow

3 weeks ago

Bought PrimeLash because of their Facebook ads. EXACTLY what you described. Sticky on the second coat. Spider legs by 2pm. Curl gone by lunch. The marketing IS great. The product was nothing. Glad I'm not the only one who fell for it.

Kathleen O'Brien

1 month ago

Just turned 65. Wear contacts every day. Most mascaras have my eyes watering by noon. Tempted to try GraceLash but a little nervous after the Laura Geller mess (which I also bought, wish I'd read this first). Any other contact wearers here who've tried it?

Deborah Frankel

1 month ago

You mentioned GraceLash has ingredients that "feed" your lashes. After everything I've read online about lash serums (sunken eyes, eye color changes, lashes falling out when you stop), I'm honestly terrified to put anything "growth" near my eyes. Can you tell me more about what's actually in this one?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Deborah Frankel · 1 month ago

Hi Deborah. Your fear makes sense. The scary side effects you're reading about come from prescription lash serums. GraceLash is NOT a lash serum. It's a tubing mascara that happens to have some conditioners and vitamins built into the formula. The kind of things that just feed your lashes a bit while you wear it. Not the heavy ingredients you're worried about. I've used it for almost a year now. After about two months in, my lashes looked less starved than they had been. That's the only way I know how to describe it. A bit more body. A bit darker at the root. I'm not going to pretend I ran a clinical study on my own face. But I noticed it. And I'm still using it.

Diane Sutherland

1 month ago

Slight disagreement on ILIA. I get on with mine fine and I'm 67. Not arguing the smudging point, maybe it's my eyelid chemistry. But the rest of the article was spot on, especially Laura Geller. Tried that one. Took me a week to fully get it off my lashes. UGH.

Joan Whitley

1 month ago

Susan, what do you use on your lower lash line? Mine were always lighter than my uppers, but now they're basically invisible. I don't want to buy a second tubing mascara if there's a simpler answer. Help?

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Joan Whitley · 1 month ago

Hi Joan. Great question, I get this one a lot. For my lower lash line I actually use the Laura Geller Longwear from the review. The problems I had with it on uppers (clumping, hard to remove) don't really show up when you're only using a tiny amount on the lowers. A whisper of it on the wand tip, that's it. The pigment is what makes it work here. My lower lashes show up without spider legs. Here's the one I use: https://www.amazon.com/LAURA-GELLER-NEW-YORK-Longwear

Bonnie Hartman

1 month ago

Loved this mascara breakdown. Any chance you'd do the same for foundation next? I'm 66 and every one I try either settles into every line on my face or turns orange by lunch. I'm so sick of the trial and error. Would trust your picks over anyone's.

Susan HarperEditor

Reply to Bonnie Hartman · 1 month ago

Hi Bonnie. Foundation is the #1 topic in my inbox right now. I'm halfway through testing 8 of them on myself, and on a few brave friends. Hopefully ready to share in the next few weeks. Hang tight.

Janet Caldwell

2 months ago

Sending this to my sister. She's 68. We both used to love getting ready. We both gave up. Maybe this is the way back in for both of us. Thanks Susan.